Greetings and Welcome to To the Madhouse.

Before I scare anyone off I just want to go on record as saying
that I am not really going to a madhouse anytime soon. Not as
long I can buy a plane ticket before the men in the white coats come for me.

Now I get to tell you about myself, and this is a problem. You see, I enjoy talking about things that have happened to me more than I enjoy talking about me-the person. Think of it, not as being withholding, as much as it is the New Wave in Narcissism. I believe that the less people know about you, the more room that gives you to operate. And the closer the person is to you, the more true this becomes. Just ask my family, besides the fact that I'm gay and Black, they don't know very much about me. This fact becomes painfully apparent on my birthday and Christmas when I am presented with unsatisfactory gifts.

So here is the scoop:

1)I am 40 years old and probably too old be contributing to Xomba. But since 40 is the new 25 and immaturity is the new self-affirmation, here I am.

2)I am gay and single, I have two exes who, from time to time, will be vilified in this forum. I have been single for a long time and I like it. To tell the truth I was kind of a child bride having moved in with my first ex my Sophomore year in College and it took me 35 years to realize that I could be too selfish to make a relationship work. Also, it wouldn't hurt if maybe I was better looking and had some sex appeal.

3) It is much, much easier for me to do nice things than to say them.

4) I was raised in an old fashioned Southern home and because of the resultant good manners I acquired, am frequently mistaken for a people person. In reality I am practically a misanthrope but I'm so bad at it that I tend to err in the direction of treating people with more consideration than they deserve-then talk smack about them the second they are out of earshot. I am fully aware that this is dishonest and cowardly, but so what?

5) I hate my job, but my employer thinks I love my job. (See above).

6) I fantasize about terrible things happening to most of my co-workers.

7) My entire family is crazy. This is not an uncommon phenomenon in Southern families, what makes it a problem is that I know that I am not normal and they think they are.

8) I live in Austin, Texas which is supposed to be such an awesome place to live. It used to be, but frankly way too many cool people have moved here, rendering the city a self- conscious caricature of itself.